England have had time now to decompress from Wednesday's Euro 2020 semi-final win over Denmark and all eyes have turned to Sunday and the final against Italy. It's a historic success for England just to reach the decider in a major tournament a full 55 years after 1966 and, unsurprisingly, it's seen some government figures - Boris Johnson and Priti Patel in particular - attempt to hijack it for their own gain. However, as David Conn writes this morning, Gareth Southgate will not let that happen and even headed it off before the tournament with his widely-shared 'Dear England' letter. What has ruffled a few feathers is Raheem Sterling's fall for Harry Kane's penalty winner in extra-time with Mary Hannigan writing in her Eurozone column that much of the European media was not too kind to Southgate's team after the match. If they're to get their hands on the trophy, England will have to overcome an inspired Italian side who are led by close friends Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli - a duo at the heart of their country's resurgence. Meanwhile, three Irish sides were in Europa Conference League action last night with Dundalk making light work of Newtown while Bohemians came away with a draw from Stjarnan while Sligo Rovers have work to do against Hafnarfjordur.
Moving on to rugby and Andy Farrell has elevated eight uncapped Ireland players to the squad for Saturday's Test match against the USA with the Ulster quartet of Robert Baloucoune, James Hume, Tom O'Toole and Nick Timoney all starting while potentially another four debutants are set to come off the bench in Fineen Wycherley, Paul Boyle, Caelan Blade and Harry Byrne. It means that three players miss out on getting any game time over the two Tests and Farrell spoke yesterday about the difficulty of breaking that news to them. Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Lions tour limps on through the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to rage in that part of the world. Adding to the controversy around the tour was the inclusion last week in the Lions team of Luke Cowan-Dickie just days after he was knocked out in Exeter's Premiership final defeat to Harlequins - a topic Johnny Watterson takes a dim view of in his column this morning.
On to GAA and Jackie Tyrrell writes this morning that, after last weekend, Kilkenny and Galway suddenly look like they are worlds apart. "Both Leinster finalists last year and the majority of people would have been expecting a repeat of that final match-up this time around. But now, after last weekend, they exist on two completely different planets. And I have been in both," he writes. In football, Cavan face Tyrone in Omagh this Saturday and yesterday Mickey Graham spoke to Seán Moran about his side's prospects for the year and how defending the Ulster championship is the primary goal for them.
Finally to golf and Séamus Power put together another bogey-free round at the John Deere Classic last night - his fourth in five rounds - to sit five off the lead after round one in his continuing quest to secure a full PGA Tour card for next season. Meanwhile, in Scotland, Rory McIlroy was a little flat on the opening day of the Scottish Open where Pádraig Harrington leads the Irish charge, three shots behind leader Jack Senior.
